


Hell's New Heels

by Siddal



Category: Doctor Who & Related Fandoms
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-30
Updated: 2014-11-09
Packaged: 2018-02-23 05:46:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,100
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2536394
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Siddal/pseuds/Siddal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>51st century humans are making weapons. The Doctor is about to interfere. He along with his companions, old and new, are about to confiscate their latest project. But this project has got a mind of her own. It's seems the Doctor isn't the only one with the new face. Hello Sweetie!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Hello Again

**Author's Note:**

> Ok I've been attempting to post this for a while now. This is it! Hope you like it. Please comment!
> 
> Ow and if you want a face to put on the mystery woman in this fic (maybe not too mysterious), I imagined her being portrayed by actress Imogen Poots.

The TARDIS has a mind of her own and she certainly likes to show it from time to time. Once again she seems to have piloted herself into a new adventure taking the Doctor where he “needed to go.” Now it seems they have ended up on an asteroid. The Doctor quickly makes the TARDIS invisible and swaggers out of it while Clara follows him out slowly, still trying to find her balance after that rocky landing. “Where are we? And why is the TARDIS invisible on the outside?” The Doctor gestures at a large grey building in front of them. “Well that thing looks awfully militarized to me. We wouldn’t want to attract any attention since we don’t really know who owns this place.” The monitor inside the TARDIS springs to life. The Doctor runs back inside to see a live feed of a security camera. The TARDIS had hacked into the facility outside to show the Doctor what they came for. Clara follows him inside and looks at the monitor. “Is that…” she asks and the Doctor says “Yes.”

They break into the facility. And find themselves in a maze of corridors among soldiers and people in lab coats; all of them human. Hiding behind corners along a corridor across from each other, they wait. “Good thing you humans look like us. Wouldn’t need much of a disguise.” says the Doctor. A scientist with a soldier escorting him walk passed them. “hyah! hyah!” The Doctor hit the two men on their necks. “Did you just karate chopped those men while whisper-shouting ‘hyah’?” asks Clara with her hands on her hips. The Doctor looking slightly embarrassed.

They quickly change into the men’s clothes, with Clara in some loose fatigues and the Doctor in the lab coat. Sneaking about, they find themselves in a room with cells lining the wall. The Doctor makes a beeline towards the one occupied cell. “Hello again.” says the Doctor to the four inhabitants of the cell. “Who are you?” asks one Mickey Smith tightening his hold on his wife. The Doctor sonics the cell door and lets the prisoners out. “DOCTOR!”

“Come on, come on, come on! We’ll have time for silly questions later.” shouts the Doctor. They quickly but quietly try to make their ways out of the facility through their first route but they find a squadron marching through one of the corridors. “So who are this people? Jack?” asked the Doctor. “I thought later for those silly questions?” Jack responded in disbelief. “Well there’s a bunch of armed men blocking our way so I think we have time to catch up.” the Doctor said in an offhanded manner. “Fine! They checked us for tech imbedded in our body and genetic enhancements. Just a guess, but by the looks of all this advanced weaponry and training regiments, they’re looking for combat capabilities. They’re arms dealers and mercenaries. Army for hire.” They quickly make a turn into a dark room filled with a faint blue light. There’s another exit across the room and they rush towards it.

“Doctor!” Clara calls behind her. But the Doctor is frozen on the spot. He stares at the capsule filled with some kind of blue fluid and unconscious young woman inside. She had blonde curls, a short, dark blue skin-tight suit and a fierce look about her.  “Who is that?” asked Martha. “Is she alive? Is she human?” They’ve all stopped running and are all staring at the woman now, curious as to what could have caught the Doctor’s attention. Captain Jack fiddles with one of the computers in the room. “Well, she is alive but I’m not sure she’s human.” The Doctor snaps into action at the captain’s comment at takes a look at the computer screen himself. He analyzes the readings on the screen for a moment and looks back at the woman in front of them with a longing expression. “Should we help her out of there?” asks Mickey. “She could be one of them. You heard what Jack said, she’s not exactly human.” says Rose.

Noticing the Doctor’s expression, Clara tries to snap him out of his trance. “Doctor, we don’t have much time. They are going to notice that they’ve had a security breach any moment now. We’ll have guards on us in no time. What do we do?” The Doctor seems to have heard her but still doesn’t make a move until a light alert sound comes from the screen. On the screen it says Upload Complete. “Something has been uploaded into this woman.” Doctor fiddles with the controls and then all of it makes sense all of the sudden when the Doctor finds the source of the download. The Doctor springs into action. This gray haired Doctor musters up strength that doesn’t quite match his appearance. He lifts a large heavy metal chair and smashes the glass of the capsule. Dropping the chair, he catches the young woman. He alarms sound off and there is red light everywhere. The Doctor carries the woman, bridal style and hurries off, shouting at his companions behind him. “Come on! They’re coming.”

They make it out of the facility and rush into the TARDIS. The Doctor lays the young woman on the floor and starts flipping and twisting the controls of the TARDIS and they’re off. The TARDIS stops, just floating in space, far from the asteroid belt. The Doctor picks up the blonde and carries her off to the med bay, his companions following behind him. The Doctor is unusually quiet as he hooks up his new patient into some medical equipment and monitors her vitals.

“So Doctor, need any help?” asks Martha. “There’s nothing we could do for her. We just have to wait until she wakes up.” says the Doctor as he pulls up a chair next to the blonde woman’s bed. His companions look at each other, trying to figure out what to do. The Doctor seems strangely melancholy looking at his patient. “So, who is she Doctor?” asks Rose with a hint jealousy in her tone. Who is this who woman that the Doctor is so entranced by that he barely notices them? Barely notices her. She got here from a parallel universe and even she doesn’t know how that happened. What could be more intriguing than that?

“The information in the computer earlier said that something’s been uploaded into this woman.” The Doctor starts to explain. “Can you do that? Just upload something into a person, like in that Matrix movies? Is she suddenly going to wake up an ‘know kung fu’” asks Mickey. “It is possible. Those humans somehow found a way.” “Well maybe she’s a cybord.” suggests Jack. “No. She’s all organic.” The Doctor points at the monitor above the bed that’s showing some reading on the composition of the woman. “They grew this body. It was an empty clone that they uploaded something into. They uploaded a consciousness into her.” “Where does it say any of that?” asks Captain Jack trying to figure out where on the screen the Doctor got this information. “Just a theory. But look at these markers” The Doctor points at some DNA graphics on the screen. “She’s part Timelord.”

They were all shocked at this revelation. “Timelord? You think they’ve made it back into our universe?” asks Clara. “No, at least not yet. And she’s human plus Timelord.” The Doctor explains. “Is that possible? I mean sorry to bring this up but, didn’t you have to erase Donna’s memories because her human body couldn’t take being Timelord? Did they upload Timelord qualities into her?” says Jack. “Of course not, what a stupid suggestion. Don’t turn pudding brain on me now, Jack. This woman was “born” part human part Timelord. Remember Jenny, Martha? She’s kinda like that. She was born with her body matching her Timelord qualities. Then there’s that consciousness. I can’t trace the source. But it definitely wasn’t from that facility.”

“Well who ever she is, could she be a threat?” asks Jack. “I don’t know. I’m not even sure what possessed me to take her with us. I just knew that something drew me in. I didn’t really recognize her as much as I…felt her. Like I’ve felt her energy before.” Clearly, that was the last Doctor wanted to say on the matter for now, at least that’s how it seemed to Clara. She figured that the Doctor might want to be alone so she shepherded the rest of the companions out of the med bay. “We’ll leave you to it then.”

All five companions arrive at the control room. “Sooooo. I’m Clara. I’m the new companion. Well not really new. The most recent regular I guess.” Jack was the first to greet her, reaching for her hand to give it a kiss. “Captain Jack Harkness.” “JACK!” The rest of the companions shout at him. “What?” Jack acts all innocent. Martha was next. “Hi, I’m Martha and this is my husband Mickey.”  “I’m Rose.” Clara shakes their hands. “Actually, I kinda know you all. Well not all that well but I have been around the Doctor’s timeline for quite some time. Even though technically, I’ve only been travelling with him for a few months. It’s complicated. But yeah, I’m familiar with all of you.”

“So how did you meet the Doctor?” asks Rose. “Ow the usual way you do I guess. Earth in danger, ‘Hello, I’m the Doctor.’ A bit of running, aliens, saving the planet.” Everyone just smiled fondly because though they didn’t all meet the Doctor that way, it totally sounded like him. “Some things never change.” Says Mickey. “He is a bit snarky this time around though.”

The five companions have been lounging about for hours when the Doctor finally drags his feet into the control room. “Any change?” Clara asks the moment the Doctor enters. “No. She doesn’t seem like she’s waking up anytime soon. It’s not really a coma and she’s actually quite health. It just seems like she’s resting. Like after a really long day. I’ve been debating whether or not to wake her up artificially but I’m not entirely sure what they’ve been giving her at that place.” Clara slowly approaches the Doctor and whispers. “Are you okay?” the Doctor nods. “Doctor, maybe I should leave you for a bit. I could wait by your patient’s bed. I think these folks have a lot of questions that need answering.” The Doctor nods and Clara skips off to the med bay.

The Doctor makes his way up the upper steps above the console platform. “So Clara tells me you have some questions.” His four old friends turn towards him. “I have one.” Jack raises his hand. “How long has it been?” The Doctor looks down at his feet with a sad smile. “Well to be honest, I’m not entirely sure.” He steps down to sit on the bottom step to be more at the same level as his companions on the platform. “I think a better answer to your question would be saying that I’ve changed twice since any of you saw me. You missed my last face, quite young looking. People seemed to find me quite dashing but people also said I had bit of a chin. And some people didn’t like my bow tie. Quite a change this one, from looking like someone in his 20s to someone in his 50s.  Still getting used to it. I’m at that point in a Timelord’s life when they’re not entirely sure how old they are anymore. I know I’m passed 1200 though.” There was silence until Rose asked a question. “How am I here?” The Doctor looks at her with a bit of shock in his eyes. “I don’t know how or why or even who those people were. I don’t know how any of you got into that facility let alone how you got into this universe. I don’t like not knowing. But they certainly made a lot of effort getting you all there. I guess I’m the common denominator though.” “How did you find us then? If you have no idea about any of this?” asks Mickey. “The TARDIS brought me there. She even hacked into their systems to show me right where to find you. But I guess she does exist in all time and space. She would know that sort of thing.” The Doctor steps forward to stoke the console. “Though she does get confused sometimes. A TARDIS’ mind doesn’t exactly process the progression of time the same way we do.”

In the med bay, Clara looks at the Doctor’s new patient. She chuckles for a bit. The Doctor with an actual patient just doesn’t sound right. She stares at the blonde on the bed. She was pretty and young. She looked about the same age as Clara. But she was certainly taller. The Doctor was drawn to her despite not knowing her. Maybe he could feel Timelords. Feel? That doesn’t sound right either. No, Doctor found out the Timelord part later. But the whole _I’ve felt her energy before_ bit sounded way too familiar for her to be just any Timelord. The Doctor also looked a bit melancholic. Clara thinks the Doctor might not be telling them everything he knows.

Though her skin easily dried with that slippery blue fluid from her capsule just slipping away, her curls were still coated with the stuff. Clara finds a basin and fills it with water. She positions herself by the woman’s head and slowly cleans her hair with a damp cloth.  As she cleans the hair, loose curls of light blonde hair appear lighter and brighter. Clara wonders what color this woman eyes are, what she liked to eat, what clothes she’d prefer. All of the sudden she to feels a connection with this woman. But she didn’t have to wonder about those eyes for long.

All of the sudden a pair of green eyes are looking at her and there is a hand gripping her wrist tight. She lets go of the curl in her hands and steps back for a bit while prying her hand from the grip. “Umm. Sorry I was just cleaning your hair. I’m Clara.” All of the sudden she’s offering this woman a handshake. Clara lowers her hand and asks “What your name? Do you have one? Would you even remember?” The woman continues to stare at her as she sits up on the bed. “Where am I?” the woman demands. Clara is shocked that she’s even talking. The woman reminds her of someone with a bit of a hangover. She looks tired and confused but very determined. “The med bay…The TARDIS…I mean you’re in the med bay of the TARDIS. It’s a ship. Do you remember anything from before being unconscious?” Clara asks. The woman thinks for a moment. “Children. There were children and house with a blue front door.” She looks into the distance as if she was seeing those things in front of her, just out of reach. “Good! Good. That’s good. Um was it on Earth?” The woman stares at Clara confused. “It’s a planet. Though, 51st Century, you might not be from there despite being part human. Sorry, I’m probably just confusing you aren’t I. I’ll just get the Doctor. You just stay put.” Clara rushes to the control room.

“DOCTOR!” She shouts from the archway. “Your patient’s awake.” They all rush to follow Clara back to the med bay but they come back to find it unoccupied. “I told her to stay put!” Clara complains. “Now you know how I feel! Spread out everyone. Find her. We meet back in the control room after ten minutes.” The Doctor and his companions spread out in the TARDIS, not really sure how to go about finding the woman considering how large the TARDIS is and not knowing what to call the lady. They shout out variations of ‘lady’, ‘miss’, ‘woman’ from the Doctor and even ‘sexy’ and ‘foxy’ coming from Jack. They all end up back in the control room around the same time after an unsuccessful search only to stumble upon their patient tinkering with the console’s telepathic interface. “Hey don’t touch that!” The Doctor rushes over to grab her hands from the console only to receive a bit of a shock accompanied by bursts of images in his head from touching her. He lets go of her immediately. The Doctor stares at his hands. He knows what that felt like. An energy transfer. “It is you.” He looks at her with happy eyes. He wants to hold her but he can’t. “Touching her might draw out the regeneration energy onto the similar biological vessel.”

“Regeneration energy?” asks Jack. The Doctor looks back at Jack. “Did I say that out loud? Sorry. But I think somehow her regeneration energy is very…active. I told you she’s part Timelord.” Clara walks towards him and touches his arm. “What did you mean ‘It is you’?” The Doctor and Clara look into each other’s eyes. Clara smiles at the realization. She looks at the woman with the blonde curls. “I knew it!”

“Well we don’t! Who is she?” asks Martha. Clara moves towards the blonde. “Professor Song?” she ask. “Is that my name?” Clara looks back at the Doctor. “Is it her?” The Doctor’s face is solemn all of the sudden. His earlier joy having faded from his face moments ago. “I found out that the source of the uploaded consciousness was the Library. I suspected but didn’t allow myself to believe. As you can see, her physical features alone are very reminiscent of the River Song you’ve met if not a younger version of her. The regeneration energy and the flashes of her memories of me projected into my mind confirmed it.” Clara didn’t know what to feel. So with a slightly confused smile she asks the Doctor “Then why are you sad? It’s River!” All of the sudden River collapses onto Clara’s side. “River!” she shouts. The Doctor is fast in catching River. With a swift motion, she is in his arms but instead of heading back to the med bay, the Doctor carries her to a different direction.


	2. Remember Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> River wakes up in a room full of pictures of a curious looking couple.

The Doctor returns to the control room a few moment later. “Where is she?” asks Clara. “In a more comfortable bed than the one in the med bay.” The Doctor replies. “Is she ok? Does she need anything?” asks Martha and the Doctor smiles at her fondly. “She’s fine for now Dr. Jones.” The Doctor assures Martha. “That’s Smith actually.” Mickey interjects. “That’s not how it works around here. And by the way, I’m going to call you Mickey Jones now.” They all chuckle at that though not all of them understood where the sentiment came from. They’re just happy that despite yet another regeneration, they could still get a dose of the Doctor’s natural silliness.

Jack takes a moment to look at him and then at Rose then back at the Doctor. “Doctor, who is River?” The Doctor looks at all of them. He suddenly seems sad. He takes a deep breath and starts. “Professor River Song is an Archeologist.” Jack is slightly surprised. “Doesn’t seem like your type.” The Doctor chuckles lightly. “Time travelling Archeologist. Always said she was kind of cheating like that but River does like to break rules. Considering all the rules she has to follow, I think she’s due a bit of rule breaking.”

“I met her when Donna was still around. After you lot, after I regenerated I got some new companions. Amy and Rory. The Ponds. They were fantastic. We then met River at different points in her timeline. Usually a River who was further along than me so she always knew more than me. Kind of frustrating, that, but we got along quite well if I say so myself. We later found out that River was actually the Ponds’ daughter from the future. The story is really a lot more complicated than that but yeah.” Clara coughed to interrupts. “I think you’re missing a bit of info Doctor.” Then the Doctor’s eyebrows were at it again, forming a frown. Clara crossed her arms, urging the Doctor to continue. “River Song, Melody Pond…was my wife.”

“WHAT!”

 “Did you seriously get married?” asks Mickey. “Yes.” They were all shocked and trying to get answers from the Doctor. Clara looks at the Doctor as if to say “sorry, it had to be done.” But the Doctor was just looking at Rose. “Are we okay?” The Doctor asks Rose and the rest of them grew silent. “I think so. It’s been a while. And to tell you the truth as similar as your human copy was to you we didn’t exactly work out. I mean we’re good friends but that kiss didn’t really get us very far. So I guess that says something about us. Probably wouldn’t have worked out this far with us either even if we had the chance. Though he’s probably pretty worried right now since I’m nowhere to be found in that universe. I can’t help being a bit jealous though. All of the sudden I’m not the biggest anomaly around here. But Doctor, what do you mean by ‘was your wife’?”

The Doctor takes a deep breath. “River is dead. She died the day I met her. That woman, whether she is completely River or just a piece of River, she resides inside the clone of a dead vessel. My relationship with River was amazing and beautiful despite it being bittersweet. “Our lives are back to front” she used to say. We were two time traveler that are more or less travelling in opposite directions of each other’s timelines. I met her the she died. I was dreading the day that I would meet her again after that first meeting. I thought every day I’m with her is a day closer to losing her. Which is the same for any relationship but I guess I was more aware of it. I was so happy with her, but almost every unoccupied moment without her was filled with dread.”

After a pause the Doctor started up again, sounding furious all of the sudden. “But I’ve already lost her again. We’ve had the final date night and I sent her off to her death so I don’t understand how she could be here. I was careful. I don’t know how those people were able to get enough DNA to clone her, enough to use her. Like the Silence used her. Haven’t they realized she’s had enough grief in her life?” Clara was shocked. “What do you mean “use her”, Doctor? Have you figured out what they were doing?” “Not all of it but part of it. They took you all from where ever you were. They put you in a cell but there are no signs of harm on you but they did test you for combat capabilities. They were looking for people associated with the Doctor but they were looking for someone specific and they found River. What could they possibly want from her that the others don’t have? Her Archeology notes? No! They want the dangerous psychopath engineered by the Silence, the criminal they thought was dangerous enough to make it to Stormcage. They wanted the weapon!”

 “If she’s a weapon they must have invested a lot of money into her. She’s a clone that was created with some very advanced tech and from very hard to acquire DNA. She must have cost a fortune. They’re going to want her back.” says Jack. “It doesn’t make any difference. They’re not getting her back.” The Doctor guarantees his companions. “Any one would love to bring a loved one back from the dead. But after all she’s been through; I don’t want to bring her back into a life that’s no better than the first. And that is exactly what these people are doing; putting her back into a life she spent a lifetime running from. I don’t want this for her.”

Clara rubs the Doctor’s shoulders with her hands, trying to calm him down. “We understand. But she has you and you have us. We’ll keep her safe.” The rest of his companions come closer trying to sooth the Doctor with their presence. With a simple step forward and a slight touch they reassure the Doctor. Because it doesn’t matter if he’s got a new face and that it looks old and all-knowing. This is the Doctor and sometimes despite his great knowledge, he needs his companions and they will always do their best to be there for him.

“Besides, isn’t she safe now?” asks Rose.

“Those people can’t recreate her after I destroyed all their samples and data.” He lifts his sonic screwdriver to eye level. “The sonic can’t do a thing to wood but it’s awfully helpful at making electronic things go boom. And even if they can clone her again, those clones wouldn’t be her. They can’t duplicate her consciousness, her character or her training. But they will be looking for this clone. We need to figure out who those people are and what they planned to do with her. ” says the Doctor. “Doctor?” they all turn towards one of the archways to find River standing there looking slightly confused. “What are you doing up? You need to rest!”

* * *

 

Earlier on a comfy bed, River woke up just after the Doctor left the room. She felt exhausted and the people she just met looked trustworthy enough so she tried to sleep. Besides, even if they weren’t trustworthy, she could probably handle them after a bit of rest. She didn’t know where the confidence was coming from but she had it. Unfortunately, however hard she tried, she couldn’t get to sleep.

She stands up from the bed and looks around the room. It’s not big but it wasn’t small either. It had some closets and drawers that had very few articles of clothing in them. It had a large bed and some bedside tables with some curious looking things in them she couldn’t recognize but somehow made her blush. Despite the almost barely used appearance of the furniture, there were an abundance of pictures and clippings on the walls. There were pictures of the people she just met and some she couldn’t recognize.

Then she got to one of the walls that was covered with pictures of a young man with a bowtie and a woman with large, curly blonde hair. There were some thick roller shades rolled up above the pictures. She pulled them down out of curiosity and on it was written “spoilers” with a red felt pen. She took a closer look at the pictures. The couple in the pictures looked happy. Some of the pictures showed them goofing off, some were romantic and some had other people with them, usually a blonde man and a red headed woman. They seemed to like to travel a lot considering all the different backgrounds.

River was shocked to realize that there were tears running down her face. She lifted her hand to wipe the tears away but the moment she felt welt wet tears on her finger she felt a shock. She saw bright yellow lights accompanied by images the life she once lived.

* * *

 

“Doctor.” She said. The Doctor was fussing over her, trying to maneuver her back to their bedroom. “I remember.” The Doctor stops and stares at her. “You remember? Everything?” he asks her. “She frowns and thinks. “I don’t think so. It feels like there are gaps in my memory. But I remember you, your stories about your companions and strangely enough, I remember Clara though I distinctly remember being dead at that point.” The Doctor guides her to a chair near the console. “I suppose it will all make sense in time. How are you feeling?” he asks. “A bit tired but less tired than before somehow. How am I alive?” asks River and the Doctor springs into an excited explanation, suddenly becoming quite cheerful compared to his recently more solemn attitude.

“Well you see I have a running theory about that. The evidence shows that you’re a clone of yourself. Basically they made you a clone body and uploaded your consciousness from the library. But my theory is that Timelord DNA isn’t all that stable so the humans who cloned you didn’t really know what to expect. So instead of making a clone that looked like an older River Song, they may have made a clone of that regeneration but younger! Well, it’s either that or this is a completely new face or regeneration. But I guess since this is a clone body, this is your first incarnation. So I guess Happy Regeneration and may you have many more to come! Though not too soon I hope. I’m not entirely sure if you can actually regenerate.” Clara clears her throat.

In the Doctor’s excitement, he didn’t realize that River actually looked quite confused. He turns to look at her, then to his companions, then back at her. He crouches down in front of her. “Sorry, was that too much?” River slaps him. “I guess that proves it really is you.” The Doctor jokes and stands up. “I’ve just been brought back from the dead! The least you can do is try not to show off.” She stands, pulls him by his coat to her and kisses him on the mouth. “Well in my defense you asked me how you were alive and you know I can’t help showing off around you.” says the Doctor and he then pulls River back into the kiss. After a while of kissing, they break to breath. The Doctor touches his forehead to hers. “I’ve missed you.” He sighs but they are interrupted by another sound of a throat being cleared. “Maybe we should give you some time alone to catch up, Doctor.” Jack suggests.

“No! We have work to do.” The Doctor springs back to his lively self from a moment ago. He starts turning knobs and flipping switches on the console. “Like I said, we need to figure out what those people were trying to do with River.” Says the Doctor. “Don’t you think that can wait Doctor?” asks Martha as she hugs her husband. “Can’t we just travel to a place and time where they can’t find us?” asks Clara. “That’s the problem, seeing what they’re capable of and not really knowing who they are, I’m not sure where they can’t find us.”

All of the sudden the engines of the TARDIS came to life. Things started spinning and moving up and down. They look to River who was now flipping switches and turning knobs on the console. “She can fly the TARDIS!” Rose exclaims. The Doctor pulls the screen to face him and looks at the coordinates. He turns to River and says her name surprised at the choice of location but at the same time it seems like the perfect choice for River right now. “I want to go home.” River says to the Doctor. And the TARDIS lands in front of a house with a TARDIS blue door.


	3. Fish Custard

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How about a bit of heart-to-heart?

CHAPTER

Everyone gets out of the TARDIS looking around their surroundings. “Where are we?” asks Rose. River walk past them towards the blue door of the house. She stops in front of it having just realized that she didn’t have a key. “It’s the Ponds’ house.” Says the Doctor as he walks towards the door to unlock it for River. He looks at River with concern as he turns the key. He gestures towards the inside of the house to let her in and she goes in. The Doctor moves his head asking the rest of his companions to follow and he enters the home himself.

The house is clean but somehow there were still things placed on odd places; a book with a bookmark still inside on the coffee table, a clean mug left on the kitchen counter. A remote control placed seemingly haphazardly but actually intentionally balancing on an armrest. River looks at all this and looks back at the Doctor at the strange state of the place. “Everything has been cleaned, trash and spoilt leftovers thrown out but most things have been left or returned to the spot your parents left them. I and sometimes Brian visits, cleans a bit, sits for a little while and this…makes it seem like they aren’t truly gone. Just off on another adventure, working or off to the shops.” The Doctor gives her a sad smile.

River takes a moment, breathing the place in. She then climbs the stairs to room she knows would be just as she saw it was last time she was here. “Should we go follow her?” asks Clara. The Doctor shakes his head no. “Shouldn’t you?” asks Mickey. “She’s off to her room, our room. We have a room here. She usually used it when she was visiting. She’s overwhelmed and she feels safe here. It’s best to give her a moment.” The Doctor explains.

The Doctor moves towards the refrigerator and grabs a box of custard and frozen fish fingers. “There’s electricity?” asks Martha in shock. “I’ve long disconnected this house from the power grid, installed a renewable power source in the basement to keep the place running.” He starts preparing the fish custard and takes out a large bowl. “What’s cooking Doc?” asks Jack. “Comfort food.”

“Well go on make yourself comfortable.” Says the Doctor. His companions look around the room awkwardly trying to find a spot to sit that didn’t seem prone to being disturbed. The Doctor grabs his bowl of fish custard and climbs the stair, leaving his companions still a bit anxious about sitting. He opens the door to their barely used room and finds it empty. After a second of confusions, he notices another open door. The door led to the Pond’s bedroom. The room is dark but the Doctor could still see a bit. He just lets the soft sobs lead his way. He turns on the lamp on the bedside table and sees River curled up in the fetal position away from him on the bed.

The Doctor sets down the bowl on the bedside table and sits beside River. “I don’t understand. Is it because my body is younger that I’m so emotional? This isn’t like me.” River sound frustrated. “You’ve always been like this love, you just bottle it all up inside.” Says the Doctor. “But my parents have been dead for years why am I grieving now?” she asks. “Could be because you didn’t really get a chance to before. Maybe it’s because it’s not just their death that you’re grieving. I imagine that your memories are flooding back into your mind, probably accompanied by a lot of intense emotions. Another possibility is that their parents. You never really get to stop grieving, it just gets better. But there are days that aren’t so good. Today’s just another one of those days.”

River sits up and turns towards the Doctor. “Fish custard?” The Doctor offers River the bowl and River picks out a piece. They just sit side by side in silence for a while, eating their fish custard. It reminds them of happier days, of an innocent Amelia who grew up and became a part of a fairy tale with fairy god-Timelord, a Centurion for a prince charming and a superhero for a daughter. They smile at other and River leans her head on the Doctor’s shoulder.

They stay like that for a while then River says “I remember. I think I’ve got more or less everything now.” They look each other in the eyes. “I remember my life and a bit of my time haunting you but nothing from being cloned I’m afraid.” The Doctor’s face was at first was blank, and then happy which then faded into worry. “Are you mad at me?”

River is shocked at the question. “Why would I be mad at you?” she asks. “Because of what I did, helping the Silence and because of what they did to you.” The Doctor looks away in shame as he speaks. “Is that what has been bothering you all this time? I know that Tasha Lem isn’t like Kovarian. She has committed crimes of her own, one of those being flirting with you while I’m not around for the fun. But in times of war, sometimes you have to join forces with people who don’t exactly have the same ideals as you. You know that, my brave old soldier. It doesn’t matter who you fought alongside with but who you fought for. You protected those people in Christmas, all those innocent children.”

“You were innocent.” Says the Doctor. River looks at him in disbelief at the description. “I’m a psychopath who was born to kill you.” But the Doctor insists. “You were born Melody Pond. They took you from the care your parents and made you into…this.” River shrugs. “Well they must have had something to work with. Mum was a bit cuckoo.” She looks into the distance as if to reminisce at the memories of Amy Pond. “She was Scottish.” Says the Doctor and River rolls her eyes.

“Well call it Stockholm syndrome or whatever you like, but I’m glad I ended up with you however I got here.” River looks at him with a proud smile on her face. The Doctor face was less glad. “All the nightmares they gave you. How can you be glad of that when the payoff is…me?” The Doctor’s self-loathing returns and River holds him to try and keep the self-loathing at bay. “And what’s wrong with you?” River tries to maintain a cheerful tone to her voice. “Ask them.” The Doctor says bitterly.

The mood turn but River still tries to reassure the Doctor. “They were afraid of you. You are strong, intelligent and powerful. But most importantly, you are unpredictable. There is nothing wrong with you. If there was, it’s not your fault. You’re a Timelord. Timelords, we are the monsters of this universe. We try to be like those wildlife documentaries, just observing. But in reality we drag destruction in our paths. It’s in the name, isn’t it? Gallifreyans mastered time travel and decides to call themselves Timelords. Like the universe owed us something. Some of us try to be separate, The Master, the one who broke the mold; you, the rebellious prince; and me, part human who sees from the outside, who should know better but commits all the same crimes anyway. You my love, you are the best of us. Maybe it was better that you were the last. As much as I don’t want you to be lonely, at least there were none of us left to pollute you.”

“Pollute me? Not you. Let them all burn but you. You were the one who got me through the dark times. After the Library, I had lost so much but I tried my best to push on, fighting my own darkness, the dread of the heartbreak that comes with all this, because I’d seen a glimpse of our future together. After the Ponds, after I had lost you again, I was at my worst but I thought of you and I knew you wouldn’t approve. You are the best of me. And now new people have realized just how special you are and are using you yet again. I keep failing to protect you from these people.”

River smiles at the Doctor’s protectiveness but also at her triumph. She only needed to provide a person, in this case her, that needed cheering up and as the Doctor cheers her up he lifts his own spirits. “There will always be people like them. It’s not your fault.” She says and that is the end of that gloomy episode. They lie down next to each other, holding each other.

“It’s kinda funny how this time around, you’re the one who looks older between the two of us.” She say with a mock smugness in her smile. “Yeah. Is that revenger?” The Doctor frowns at the idea. “I didn’t asked to be cloned and certainly didn’t ask to look like this. I wasn’t even aware this face existed in here.” She says pretending to be offended and struggling not to laugh. “It looks like a younger version of you normal face.”

 River sits up on the bed and crosses her arms. “My normal face?” She raises an eyebrow. “Your face as, you know, River.” The Doctor explains. “Cause my other faces aren’t normal?” She knows what she means but she continues to tease him. “I just mean it’s the face I usually saw.” Says the Doctor, slightly worried that River might actually be offended. But then River laughs. “Well then my mother would disagree since she gave birth to me a baby girl with hair like her Roman’s and was best friends with a black girl version me. Those are the face she saw.”

“Well that’s Amy isn’t it? She usually disagrees with everyone.” Says the Doctor. “Is that another quip on my mother’s “Scottish-ness”?” She raises her eyebrow again. “No.” The Doctor tries for a save. “You do realize you’re Scottish now too right?” The Doctor sighs at this. “Still not ginger though.” River laughs louder. “Oh I’ve missed you.”

“Now that I remember our life together and my time without you in the Library, I can feel the weight of time all of the sudden.” She touches his cheek. “But now you’re back!” He smiles trying to reassure her. “How long will that last? We don’t know if I can even regenerate or how long this imitation body will last.” The solemn atmosphere returns but the Doctor sits up and lifts River’s face by her chin and looks lovingly into her eyes. “We’ll make the most of it, like we always have. Every moment together an adventure.” River smiles and they kiss. “Maybe not every moment.” River moves her eyebrows suggestively. The Doctor’s eyes widen in awkward desire. “I’m up for that too.” River chuckles. “I bet you are.” But then the Doctor makes a face of disgust. “Can we continue this conversation in the other room though? This is getting creepy.” And River agrees. “Definitely.”

**Author's Note:**

> How was it?


End file.
